Apple's 2024 M4 Mac Mini: What We Know

[MacRumors]

Apple is working to refresh the entire Mac lineup with chips in the M4 series, and the Mac mini could get an update as soon as late 2024. Apple is expected to skip the M3 chip, going straight from M2 to M4.

This guide highlights everything that we know about the Mac mini refresh so far.

Design

Apple hasn't changed the Mac mini design in many years, and there are no rumors of a design update coming in 2024. Apple did make the Mac mini a little bit thicker and lighter when it was refreshed in 2023, and that same design will likely be used for the 2024 model.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in January that the "next new Mac mini" will have the same "form factor design." Back in 2021, there were rumors that Apple was working on a Mac mini with a plexiglass top and other design changes, but that device never materialized.

The Mac mini is Apple's smallest, most portable desktop machine, measuring in at 7.75 inches square and 1.41 inches thick. The Mac mini is meant to be connected to a standalone display, keyboard, and mouse, and it does not ship with those accessories.

M4 Chip

The Mac mini will be equipped with Apple's M4 and M4 Pro chips, with Apple skipping the M3 line entirely and going from M2 to M4.

Apple introduced the M4 chip in the iPad Pro, and the chip is built on a second-generation 3-nanometer technology. Compared to the M2 chip, the M4 chip offers 50 percent faster CPU performance and up to 4x faster rendering performance.

The M4 chip features a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. There is a variant of the M4 with a 9-core CPU, but Apple is unlikely to use it in the Mac mini, instead reserving it for the iPad Pro and a future MacBook Air.

There is also a more advanced 16-core Neural Engine and the GPU supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a feature not available with the M2. According to Apple, the Neural Engine in the M4 chip is an "absolute powerhouse for AI."

We don't yet know details on the M4 Pro because that chip is not expected to come out until later this year.

Release Date

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Mac mini will be refreshed alongside the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in late 2024.

The Mac mini was last refreshed in January 2023, so it will be close to two years old when it is updated. Apple often does Mac refreshes in October or November, so we could see the M4 Mac mini sometime in that timeframe.

Article Link: Apple's 2024 M4 Mac Mini: What We Know

 

[Morod]

This is great news! Can't wait to see if this rumor comes true.

 

[madmin]

M4-Me-Mini

Update the keyboards to usb-c *splat* *splat*

 

[Andres Cantu]

I wonder why they never brought back the space gray version from 2018?

 

[now i see it]

It’s almost certainly coming!

 

[Timpetus]

I wonder why they never brought back the space gray version from 2018?

Agreed, the color was great looking and now that we have more powerful AS chips it would make sense to reintroduce the "pro" shade.

 

[jeremz1ne]

Ready for the new Studio , love my M1 but time to upgrade i guess been a couple years

 

[The_Gream]

Finally might be the unit I buy to replace my 2018 unit for my casual Mac games on Steam.

 

[ttyRazor]

Wasn’t the last revision not actually thicker and they instead changed how they rounded and converted from metric dimensions?

 

[sw1tcher]

This guide highlights everything that we know about the Mac mini refresh so far.

Design

M4 Chip

Release Date

You left out memory. 8GB base memory FTL!

 

[paulcons]

I'm catching other posts claiming it will not appear in 2024, being a first quarter 25 product launch. There is no earthly reason we have to wait that long...

 

[Rychiar]

This should be out like now with a Mac Studio to follow in the summer.

 

[fbr$]

What I know: Mac mini M4 Pro for the price of a Mac Studio M4 Max (both with same RAM and storage). 😢

 

[ticzon]

Just when I was going to replace my MacMini Late 2012....I am on the sideline again.

 

[Populus]

If I don’t end up getting an M4 iPad Pro (that will hugely depend on iPadOS 18), and Apple doesn’t release an M4 12” MacBook, I will definitely get an M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini.

 

[tgwaste]

Love my mac mini. Mounts underneath my desk completely out of site. I want the form factor to stay the same so I can just swap it out.

 

[Surrylic]

I just need it to be able to output two 6k resolutions at once, please! And maybe not 8gb base ram…

 

[blastdoor]

I had been waiting for WWDC to buy a new desktop Mac, but then my spidey sense started whispering that WWDC would give us a big fat nothing, and so I bought a refurb Mac mini M2 Pro. Very happy to have it.

 

[CookItOff]

Remember when a certain leaker said his "inside sources" told him that the Mini was getting smaller with a redesigned plastic top and magsafe connector? lol a lot of "clicks" were earned that month.

 

[steve09090]

I’ve been looking at some of the new Mini PC's lately. Some are very powerful and absolutely challenge and beat the Mac Mini in every way, except… Mac…. But there is so much they can do to the Mac Mini to make it a complete game changer. Upgradable NVME.m2 storage would be the first thing. There is no excuse to not include a secondary storage slot.

 

[vegetassj4]

They should call it the M4C Mini, the most l33t Mac we've ever created. Your going to love it.

 

[Sippincider]

it would make sense to reintroduce the "pro" shade.

"Mac mini Pro M4 Pro"? 🤪🤦🏻‍♂️

 

[AlexESP]

“Apple did make the Mac mini a little bit thicker and lighter when it was refreshed in 2023”. No, they made it thinner and (in the case of the M2 Pro) heavier.

 

[blastdoor]

I’ve been looking at some of the new Mini PC's lately. Some are very powerful and absolutely challenge and beat the Mac Mini in every way, except… Mac…. But there is so much they can do to the Mac Mini to make it a complete game changer. Upgradable NVME.m2 storage would be the first thing. There is no excuse to not include a secondary storage slot.

Yeah... except that the "Mac" part is a big deal. Almost every time I've tried to cheap out with non-Apple gear, I've ended up disappointed. The most recent misadventure was my purchase of a 'cheap' (relative to Apple, but not in absolute terms) Dell monitor. I was shocked by how bad it was. Now I've got an Apple Studio Display and, while I wish it had cost less, I'm a lot happier. (maybe if I had sprung for a more expensive Dell monitor I would have been happier with it, but then what's the point in not going Apple?)

Plus, and I know some people will roll their eyes, the Mac mini plus Studio Display *look so nice* on my desk. The PC guys really have no taste.

 

[citysnaps]

I just need it to be able to output two 6k resolutions at once, please! And maybe not 8gb base ram…

I don't see that happening, as many people (likely most of Apple customers that aren't tech-driven) will do fine with 8gb ram. And shouldn't have to pay more for 16gb ram they'll never need.

The good news is, if you need more ram, you can bump it up to whatever you need when placing your order.